I received this advance e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

On the afternoon of July 30^th, 2016, there was a palpable buzz in the air all around the world. For the first time in almost ten years, a new Harry Potter book was being released. And like any respectable potterhead, I had reserved my copy back in May and was eagerly counting down the hours until I met up with my friends at Barnes and Noble.

As a kid, I started reading Harry Potter when I was in the second grade. I was instantly hooked because I likened my experiences with school bullies to those Harry experienced, and having just switched schools I was in a world of lost and friendlessness. But thanks to Harry, I quickly found friends between the pages, as well as real life as I found others reading Harry’s stories for the first time alongside me. By the time I had gotten to the fifth book, the sixth wasn’t out yet. I begged and begged my mother to take me to the book release, but to no avail. This repeated a year later when the seventh and final book was released. I was devastated for years because I never got to experience the magic of these revered midnight release parties so many of my friends were able to attend.

Fast forward to this summer, the year I have graduated from high school and have grown alongside my favorite characters both on the page and on the screen for years prior. I had long thought my journey with Harry was over, but when it was announced that The Cursed Child was being published as a book I realized my childhood dream of attending a midnight release party might finally come true!

After hoarding my graduation present of a Barnes and Noble gift card for months on end and eagerly planning what I would wear to the event, the day arrived. Lillie came over to my house so we could take one car there and back, and as I drove we sang along to Adele and chattered about what we were looking forward to the most that night. As we arrived, our friends Kendice and Tracy greeted us and we walked inside the doors to the store, were handed our tickets that would dictate our place in line at midnight, and proceeded to the multiple activity tables around the store.

Lillie, Tracy and Kendice all were Ravenclaws, and I the lone Hufflepuff – who that night had an identity crisis and decided to don emerald green lipstick and a cozy green cardigan. Nonetheless, we drifted from table to table, house to house, collecting activity packets, coloring pages, buttons and stickers and bookmarks, and wrote on the Muggle Wall all before deciding to do as others had been doing and finding a place between shelves to spread out and chat as the night got underway. We quizzed one another on trivia, chatted over our favorite characters, discussed which books were our favorite, and ultimately what we looked forward to the most with Cursed Child. There was a costume contest being held and we saw many people donning robes or full-on character costumes; most notably a Gilderoy Lockhart crashing the party with some books of his own to “sign”.

After a snack break halfway through the night to caffeinate ourselves at the bookstore Starbucks, we perused the shelves some more before returning to our spot until the moment we had all been waiting for arrived. At 11:30 the store’s manager took her place on a table so that she could see high above the shelves and throughout the store, got on the store’s PA system, and began to organize us into a line by groups of numbers on our tickets. For the next half hour, my friends and I waited in the 150s group to be called to get in line and get our books. They announced the winners to the raffles during this time, and we only grew more anxious to get that coveted book into our hands.

By 12:07 we each had a copy of the book in hand and were eagerly flipping through the pages. We snapped some photos, hung out a little more, and then this magical night I had seemingly waited my whole life for… was over.

Lillie and I drove home exhausted, and when I finally collapsed into bed around 2 AM I hardly had it in me to get past page 5.

The next morning, I made myself breakfast, a cup of coffee, and settled into my favorite reading chair in the living room. I didn’t move from that chair until I finished a few hours later.

Now, for my review… I won’t rate the book. I feel like as it’s written to be a stage play, there are certain things that need to be seen to be fully understood and appreciated, and because of that I can’t accurately give a rating. But my overall thoughts toward the book, the story, the plot, the caliber of writing, and the world building was…. Disappointment. This seems to be a popular verdict too, which disappoints me even more. It was like waiting for Christmas Day to come around and instead waking up Christmas morning to find out the holiday has been changed to where you can’t recognize it anymore. Something you once loved and admired for the feelings of joy and home they instilled was now foreign.

The characters were paltry versions of the beloved figures I grew up with. They were just odd, mismatched versions of themselves that were one-dimensional and poorly developed. Harry was a total asshole. Ginny only served to further the plot by reinforcing everything Harry said or did. Ron was dumber than a sack of rocks, who seemed to only serve the purpose of comedic relief, and Hermione was just arrogant and simply full of herself. I understand that nobody is going to be the same person they are at age 40 as they were at 14; but these characters held little to no accuracy to the beloved characters known around the world as brave, intelligent, fiercely protective and loyal to one another. Of the new generation of characters we met, Scorpius was probably my favorite. Although he felt like a regurgitated version of Hermione as we knew her to be, book smart and full of kindness, he still was the only character in the whole play with any real semblance of motivation or compassion. He actually had the ability to make connections with the other characters, whereas the rest simply coexisted. The villain of the story was quite dull and predictable from the moment we meet them.

The plot of the story itself felt all wrong and predictable. Each time there was a conflict, the solution presented itself almost immediately and was resolved. The characters were predictable and because they were so one-dimensional, the story really fell flat among them. Each time there was a glimmer of potential for the story to grow into something resembling logical or right, it slipped back into the rut of predictability. How many times can I repeat “predictable” in one review? Unoriginal is another word I would like to use, as the Terminator and The Butterfly Effect seem to heavily influence certain scenes. (SPOILER: When the trolley witch chases the boys off the Hogwarts Express and threatens them with her hands that turn into spikes there is something seriously off, and not at all reminiscent of the stories we all know and love. This just seems to continue for the entirety of the play.)

The world building was just nonexistent. I understand that as a stage play, there’s props and scenes and sets to do that work; but as someone with experience writing plays, I also know how important it is to set the scene and describe it before you continue. It’s just something fundamental I was taught and expected it to be a standard among other plays. I know it to be standard in the plays I’ve read or performed in. So this was disappointing, having the writer assume the reader just knew what everything was like, where things were and what the settings entailed. It led to a very dry world for the story to take place in as a result. If I'm being 100% honest, it just felt like poorly written fanfiction; especially because of how many fan theories seemed to come true in this story.

I could probably continue on why this over-hyped and disappointing read was so much of a let-down for me, but hopefully this play will redeem itself onstage where it was meant to be received. I have no doubt the actors are more than capable of breathing life and personality into this otherwise bland tale, and I sincerely hope it’s the case, because I do not want for this to be the note the Harry Potter books are ended on.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but I’m so let down that I almost want to return my copy to the book store. It feels wrong having an incomplete collection of Potter books (seriously, I even have Tales of Beedle the Bard) but it’s heartbreakingly true. I just didn’t like the story, the characters, or the events that unfolded. I was generally unsatisfied and it pains me to say for once that I dislike a Harry Potter book for such reasons

If you’ve read Cursed Child, leave a comment or tweet me your reactions. I would like to know if you agree or disagree. And if you have yet to read the book, please don’t let my review dissuade you. Take it with a grain of salt, because after all it is meant to be seen performed on a stage. I have hopes we’ll be seeing this play performed in high school auditoriums and on off-Broadway tours in the coming months.

You know when you pick up a book, and once you start it you just can't tear yourself away from it? When you're not reading it, it's all that's on your mind. And when you're so close to the end you know there's no turning back, not until you reach the very last page — even if that means staying up well past midnight to do so. And when you're finished, you feel like you've just spent the last few days with a good friend and now their absence is more pronounced. What's more, the wait for the next book becomes excruciating and it is all-consuming as the only book you can think of is this one, and you need to know what comes next, you need another couple hundred pages for your hunger to truly be satiated.

That's what Nevernight did to me. And I've spent days looking for the right words to do it justice in a review, but truth be told it doesn't work that way; it's simply not that easy. Because this book was 5 stars across the board. Right from the first chapter when dual perspectives of the same person narrated the action, comparing what it's like to have sex for the first time to what one's first kill is like, I knew I was hooked. Mia's quest to avenge her family has only just begun, and as we slowly learn more and more about this peculiar girl's past, we realize her plans for vengeance may shift as her future is evolving into something unexpected. Oh, and did I mention Mia is this think called darkin? In a world ruled by sunlight, a rare few possess the intense and unique power of heralding a second shadow; a familiar, of sorts, taking the form of a sentient companion made of nothing but the absence of light, as darkin are in touch with the darkness and can manipulate the shadows around them.

The story takes places in a world where 3 suns cycle through the skies, ruling the heavens only to set once every two years and change, when the dark of night can truly come out to play for a little while. You see, Nevernight is unlike any other fantasy book I've read. Ever. The mythology is so completely unique and fleshed out in such a way it still feels organic; and yet it belongs in a video game or on the set of a movie, it's that cinematic. Everything from the social hierarchy to the system of government to the colloquialisms within the language are so incredibly well thought out. Loosely inspired by Italian culture and themes, Godsgrave certainly shows parallels to the Venice we know today. Video games were a major source of comparison for me while reading. The social system and fashion style is reminiscent of that in the game Dishonored. The mythology aspect reminds me a great deal of the Black Books quest line in the Dragonborn DLC of Skyrim, and the order of assassins in Nevernight is reminiscent of the Dark Brotherhood in Skyrim too. Bioshock Infinite and Assassin's Creed Brotherhood also exist in the same vein of fantasy as this story does. It's a heart-pounding read with never a dull moment. The first chapter or two were a little slow to get into, but only because of the information overload you were hit with as a new reader being introduced to a world and characters so unique and deeply concepted. Once you catch onto the swing of the narrator's rhythm and pay attention to the footnotes, you're immediately immersed in an unforgettable story.

There is a duality in the setting of Itreya and the Red Church, as well as a stark contrast between the constant turns (days) that mark the passage of time, and the seldom truedark (nights) that occur only once every so often. The religions within the novel are based upon the 3 suns, their ever-presence, and the rare beast of nighttime. The main character Mia, though only 16, is on her way to becoming one of the most revered and feared assassins in Itreya as she pays her tithe and is granted entrance to the elite Red Church: a Hogwarts for assassins, of sorts; if Hogwarts was in the middle of a desert surrounded by deadly man-eating, many-tentacled beasts and trained young assassins in the wicked arts of murder, thievery, and deceit, instead of polishing young wizards and witches into great sorcerers. Though don't be mistaken, there are sorcerers in this book as well. But what Harry and his friends do by wielding wands, these sorcerers are learned in blood werking and flesh weaving magicks.

But I digress. It is within the walls of the Red Church that Mia truly comes into her own and is honed to her full potential as she competes to be one of the four in her class to be granted the coveted spot as a Blade, an assassin for the church who carries out death sentences in the name of the Mother of Night, the goddess Niah. We follow Mia's journey from a young girl hell-bent on revenge to a weapon whose wit and dagger are equally as deadly. Mia is confident and tough, sarcasm is her favorite weapon, she's fearless and headstrong. She owns her sexuality and is unafraid to go after whatever — or whomever — she wants. Most of all, she is a heroine who is as multifaceted and dimensional as they come.

I won't promise a happy ending because if you know Jay Kristoff, you know he doesn't believe in those. I won't promise a swoon-worthy romance story of two star-crossed lovers; but I can promise the steamiest scenes you'll ever set eyes on. I can't promise you'll walk away from this book unscathed if you can't handle a little blood, (much less a whole pool full of it, for that matter) because after all, this is a book about ruthless assassins training to take lives. I won't promise a bland story that makes you feel the warm and fuzzies, because that's a far cry from the heart-pounding emotional rollercoaster and nonstop action this book entails.

There's action and adventure, there is romance and passion, mythology as unique as it comes and the setting to match, there's a cat made of shadowstuff; I promise you will never read anything like Nevernight.

And most importantly...

Never flinch. Never fear. Never forget.

For my first DNF review, I really hate that it has to be this book. I've been a fan of Cassie Clare books for years now, and the buildup to Lady Midnight was so intense that I had such high hopes for the book. Everyone who had received ARCs and read it before me was saying that it was a fantastic book, most readers devouring it in a matter of days. As I had never really felt let down by Cassie's books before, I was certain that Lady Midnight would meet or exceed expectations.

Sadly, this was not the case for me.